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Several parents were shocked to read your comments in the 1-18-18 briefs. It’s obvious that you don’t understand what is really going on in Arizona’s classrooms —which is very disappointing, since you are a candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

You have a massive misunderstanding on the recess issue. The traditional three 15-minute recess has been eliminated in most schools across the state. Many schools are down to one 10-minute recess per day, and some have no recess at all! These are not college students. They’re young children! They need to move! Studies have shown that physical activity improves academic performance. Americans are well known for their creativity and ingenuity —unlike China where academics are all that matter. We foster entrepreneurs and inventors in the USA. Recess promotes these desirable American characteristics. Recess is correlated with improved student behavior in the classroom. Recess also promotes social skills and helps kids learn how to deal with bullying —which is the opposite of giving them “comfort lamas and safe places,” as you stated.

Who doesn't like ice cream, games, and family fun when the weather is beautiful outside? Click on Meet & Greet for Frank Riggs to register, so we will have a headcount on how much ice cream to plan for.

2018 is an Election Year! Time to tune in! Time for ice cream!

Arizona’s education system can use a major upgrade. We are thrilled Frank Riggs is bringing his many years of experience to lead our state education system.

Please join Diane and Jared Taylor for some ice cream and to meet Frank. Other great local candidates will also attend.

An opponent of Frank Riggs, who is running for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, is promising to "get the federal government out of state education." That rhetoric sure sounds good. However, it's doubtful that Frank’s opponent knows much about the federal government's role in Arizona, or how to get it out of the state without jeopardizing our rural communities and our most vulnerable student populations.

Frank Riggs knows that K-12 education is primarily a responsibility of state and local government. In fact, former Congressman Riggs is the only candidate with an actual record and legislative history of fighting to restore state and local control in K-12 education. But he also understands the truth about the federal government's involvement in K-12 education, and where the money is, how it's spent, and what it will take to replace those federal dollars.

When does “repeal and replace” not mean “repeal and replace”? When Supt. Of Public Instruction Diane Douglas says it.

Incumbent Douglas has been cranking out media releases, including taking a recent victory lap on the anniversary of the State Board of Education’s adoption of “Common Core Rebrand #2.” Her false “Common Core has been repealed and replaced” narrative has recently appeared in Frosty Taylor’s 12/20/2017 Briefs. It also appeared in the 12/19/2017 issue of the Yellow Sheet.

For the record, the Common Core Standards haven’t been repealed or replaced. At most, they’ve been “tweaked.”

If you have any doubts about the negative effects of High Stakes Testing, there are many others who agree with Barry Jackson. They also say it is counter-productive, expensive, wasteful, and it is also child abuse.

At a recent Legislative District meeting, an opponent of Frank Riggs, who is also running for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, asserted that two bills co-sponsored by former Congressman Riggs "...crippled the logging industry" and "crippled the fishing industry." The fact is that Congressman Riggs did exactly the opposite! His bills helped those industries! He was one of the strongest supporters in Congress of the resource-based industries and private property rights. Because of his opposition to the extreme environmental movement, eco-terrorists targeted Riggs and even rampaged through his office vandalizing it and dragging in a tree stump and chaining themselves to it.

Frank Riggs has served country and community as an Army veteran and former police officer. An education leader who gets results, he's been called “the most qualified candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction in Arizona History.”

Did you happen to see this article by Steven Singer? More importantly, did PARENTS see it? Sure, school is hard. Kids complain. If they really, really complain, parents go to the teachers. Teachers reassure them. Principals and Superintendents reassure them. After all, they're the "experts," not parents. Kids are just "softer" than when we went to school. Right?

Wrong. Something is very, very wrong.

"Here’s a high stakes testing statistic you won’t hear bandied about on the news. The suicide rate among 10- to 14-year-olds doubled between 2007 and 2014 – the same period in which states have increasingly adopted Common Core standards and new, more rigorous high stakes tests. For the first time, suicide surpassed car crashes as a leading cause of death for middle school children. In 2014, the last year for which data was available, 425 middle schoolers nationwide took their own lives."

According to a recent Capitol Times Yellow Sheet Report titled “Underwater is a Bad Place to Be,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas is going to have an uphill battle to get reelected.

A recent poll by GOP consultant Chris Baker shows incumbent Douglas with ratings of 15 percent favorability and a whopping 47 percent unfavorability. Another 38 percent had no opinion. “I think Diane Douglas has probably reached the point of no return,” Baker told the Capitol Times reporter.

As stated in the article, “the poll surveyed 500 self-described likely voters (all of whom have voted in at least one of the last two general elections) from June 14-15, with a partisan breakdown of 35 percent Republicans, 31 percent Democrats and 33 percent independents. Of those 500 voters, 70 percent were contacted on landlines via autodial, while 30 percent were interviewed by live callers on their cell phones. The poll had a margin of error of plus-minus 4.9 percent.”

This is what happens when a novice takes office with no business or executive experience.

Arizona needs a strong, tested and proven Superintendent with the right combination of executive experience, managerial skills, knowledge of education policies and practices, integrity, and judgment to lead our state's K-12 schools! That person is Frank Riggs.

An article published on April 28, 2017 in the Arizona Daily Independent, reports on a recent vote by the Arizona State Board of Education to use the results of Common Core-aligned AZMerit high stakes test to grade public schools.

Arizonans Against Common Core, Mommy Lobby AZ, and Opt Out AZ, released a statement after the vote: “Parents advocating for their children and teachers are dismayed by the A-F Accountability plan adopted by the Arizona State Board of Education. One high stakes test now accounts for 90% of a school’s letter grade. This decision reveals the SBE believes parents are incapable of selecting schools on their own. Few other factors matter to the state; however, parents make thoughtful school choices based on their own values, research, and judgment.”

So, the AZ. State Board of Education is using the controversial, unvalidated, one-size-fits all, secretive, high stakes AZ Merit to “evaluate” every public school in Arizona. The only people who have seriously donned their thinking caps are SBE board member Jared Taylor, Choice Academies president Ms. Lisa Fink, and commentators “Listen to a Mom” and Edward Cizek. The letter grade a school receives using AZ Merit scores as the most critical criteria, will be useless to parents. Do the board members actually believe otherwise? What a waste of time, effort, and money. Ms. Fink, who is quoted extensively, uses Consumer Reports as an example of what truly passes for an evaluation of a product. I would add that we use far more criteria evaluating the nutritional value of canned soup and cereal.